Sick Day
by yaminoyume
Summary: A sickness traveling around Enies Lobby infects most of CP9. Jyabura is left to take care of Kaku. JyaKaku
1. Chapter 1

This is a collaboration between me and Squidbiscuit from y!gallery. :D (I apoligize for the awful summary. Thank you for coming to look anyway. ^^)

Summary: A sickness traveling around Enies Lobby infects most of CP9. Jyabura is left to take care of Kaku. (JyaKaku)

I do not own One Piece. D:

* * *

Jyabura knelt and stretched out, feeling his calf muscles loosen as he prepared to train for the day. He did a few more warm-up exercises and concentrated on focusing his mind. Today he was going to go through the _rokushiki_ skills and train a bit in each. He'd begin with his weak point and work his way up.

Jyabura finished warming up, chose a target dummy, and took his stance.

"Oi, Jyabura!" Jyabura let out a shocked groan/yelp as his _rankyaku_ all but exploded upon release and sent little sparks of energy tearing through the training area like a well-aimed shrapnel grenade.

"What the hell?!" Jyabura whirled around, fully intending to dismember the man that had interrupted him. His leg was cramping from the remnants of energy and the aftershock from the badly executed _rankyaku_. "Kaku! What's your problem?" He growled at the other man. Kaku was smiling placidly, not a hair out of place, looking as if he'd done nothing wrong.

Jyabura's anger audibly went up a notch.

"Why don't you come fight me? I could use the training, and I'm sure you could." Kaku said, smiling again in that disarming way. Jyabura growled, went to go sit on a still relatively sturdy-looking rock and promptly sat down and massaged his abused leg. Kaku's smile faded into a slightly annoyed frown. He didn't enjoy being on the ignored end of a conversation, which was Jyabura's normal place.

"Jyabura, I said let's fight. Train, remember?" Kaku said, crossing his arms and huffing. Jyabura barely spared him one scathing glance before going back to his work.

"I ain't fighting ya, kid. You're not all there today, or did ya not notice?" Jyabura muttered. Kaku blinked.

"… What? Exactly what does that imply?" Kaku was becoming more than a little hacked off. He definitely did not take well to being brushed off like nothing more than a fly, or at least that was his perspective. Jyabura finally looked at him, really looked at him. It was unnerving. Kaku fidgeted. "… What?"

"You don't smell right."

"What?!" The word was seriously becoming overused. "What is that supposed to mean? I think I smell just fine!" Kaku bit out, not bothering to soften the "Dirty mutt," he muttered afterwards. Jyabura's shoulder and arm muscles spasmed as if they wanted to pick up the nearest rock and bash in Kaku's head with it. Repeatedly.

"You don't smell bad, idiot. I said you don't smell right. It's different." Jyabura snorted at Kaku's look of indignation, feeling better already.

"… You afraid?"

That comment alone gained Kaku Jyabura's complete attention.

"Wassat, brat?"

"I asked if you were afraid, that's all." That damn smile was back. That kid always thought he knew what was going on at all times. Jyabura stood up and brushed off his clothes.

"You're going to regret this kid. I ain't no pussycat like that tom that thinks he's our leader." Jyabura growled out. In a completely unrelated series of events, the temperature around the building seemed to drop several degrees and the sky seemed to darken. Or maybe that was just his imagination, Kaku thought.

"Stop talking old man. I came here to spar with my body, not my words." Kaku readied his stance. Jyabura felt like there was something distinctly wrong. He looked at Kaku closely. Nothing seemed wrong. The boy seemed flushed a bit, probably from anger or anticipation. Without warning Jyabura charged at him. He swung his leg around in a large arc, not even trying to land a real decisive blow. His gut feeling told him to restrain all his attacks to bare minimum damage. Kaku blocked with his arms and a quickly applied _tekkai_, and turned to deliver a swift blow to the older man's exposed back. He never even finished the turn.

Jyabura saw Kaku's entire body freeze up and drop. He immediately brought his leg down to land and stopped his rotation.

"O-oi, Kaku! You OK?" Jyabura ran over and put a hand on Kaku's shoulder. Kaku immediately shrugged it off, but the motion only served to make him feel even sicker. Kaku clapped his hand over his mouth and shut his eyes. His other arm came up to wrap around his shoulders. Jyabura kept making dumbfounded and worried noises off to the side, completely unintelligible. Finally he seemed to gather his nerve and put his arms around the ailing man.

"S-stop that." Kaku was now upright, but his body was being wracked with shivers so hard his teeth made audible clicking noises. "I'm n-not w-weak."

"What? Weak? 'The hell are you on? You're sick kid," he ignored the half-hearted disagreement, "That's what I smelled." Words do not do justice for the look Kaku gave him right at that moment. It was as if a person had just told him that the reason the Earth was square was because it need to close properly like a box to keep all the people inside.

"W-what do you mean, smelled? How the h-hell are you sm-smelling sick people?!" Kaku ground out, trying to steel his jaw against the shuddering of his body.

"Che, how am I supposed to know? I do what I do and it works, so why the hell would I want to think about it more." Jyabura ground out. Kaku could only look at him with the complete conviction that that statement summarized Jyabura better than anyone else could.

"That's ridiculous. How do you even know if you-" Kaku cut himself off, coughed and took some deep breaths, inhaling through his hand. Jyabura gave a frustrated groan.

"Are you going to puke?"

Kaku took some testing breaths, but felt that the danger had passed for the time being. As soon as he shook his head and before opened his mouth to say, "No it's passing," the older man lunged forward and scooped him against his broad chest. Kaku gave a loud distressed cry of indignation.

"What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?! Put me down!" Kaku tried struggling a bit, only to find that it aggravated his stomach. Once he stopped moving he realized that Jyabura had not proceeded to throw him into a wall to pound him senseless, or any other number of violent things. No, Jyabura was carrying him bride-style up to his room, presumably.

"You should rest n' stuff. Don't want to be beating up an invalid." Jyabura muttered, seeming embarrassed. Kaku was too stunned to comment, and remained that way until they reached his room. Jyabura put Kaku down on his feet, his arms remaining a second longer to make sure Kaku didn't collapse. This was a good thing, Kaku thought, since as soon as he touched ground a sickening feeling rose from his stomach upwards…

Jyabura must've noticed the look on his face or his rapidly paling complexion, because the next thing he knew, Kaku had been rushed to the bathroom where he immediately began puking for all he was worth.

Jyabura made some disgusted groan from the side. Kaku gave a few pitiful coughs between heaves, prompting Jyabura to reach over and pat the boy on the back awkwardly. Kaku was glad for the comfort, however strange it was.

Kaku seemed to be finished and was just resting his head in his hands. Jyabura realized he'd stopped heaving a minute too late, and he pulled his arm back hurriedly. Kaku cracked his eyes open slightly, but Jyabura was looking at everything but him and looked like he wanted to go five minutes ago.

"Uhh, well, I guess you got this from here. I'm just gonna go, alright kid? Take care." And with that he turned. Kaku grabbed his sleeve to stop him. Instead of halting the other man through force however, Kaku only succeeded in gaining one very confused glance as he toppled over with all the finesse of a drunk and ended up looking up at Jyabura from the ground, feeling too weak to hoist himself upright. So weak that he felt a certain amount of pride that he was still holding onto Jyabura's sleeve, dangling arm's length above him.

"K-Kaku?"

"…. Please stay…" Kaku said, embarrassed at asking such a thing. Jyabura was all set to protest, but he really looked at Kaku. Kaku's eyes were watering, his skin flushed, and his mouth hanging open in a constant fever-induced pant. It took Jyabura all of three seconds to process this image and decide to stay, but for the sake of appearances he heaved an exasperated sigh and slapped a very, very tiny grin onto his face before kneeling down.

"You're killing me, kid. Come on, let's get you up." Jyabura lifted Kaku carefully and stood him up. After they got him cleaned up, Jyabura quickly deposited him into his bed. With a quick, "I'll be right back," Jyabura went out the door, ran to the kitchens, grabbed 2 water bottles, earning a strange look from Kalifa, and ran back upstairs. When he got back, Kaku had kicked off the covers and was lying in bed shivering and coughing. Jyabura scowled.

"You gotta stay under those, idiot. Got ya some water." Jyabura opened one of the bottles and helped Kaku drink some of it. Kaku seemed to doze off again. Jyabura stayed and watched him, occasionally wiping the boy's face clean of sweat. A few minutes later, Kaku started writhing in his bed, causing the covers to slip off. He gave the occasional grunt of effort, as he was still feeling very weak. Jyabura stared at the seemingly wanton display before growling out, "What are you doing, kid?" It came out only _a little _high-pitched.

"Mm… 's hot…" Kaku groaned, before lapsing into a bout of coughs.

"What the hell are you talkin' about? You're shakin' like a leaf! It's a wonder the rest of the guys haven't come up here to see why the whole damn room's shakin'!" Jyabura said, looking clearly annoyed. Kaku gave him a distinctly unimpressed look and promptly lay back down.

A few minutes passed in complete silence before Kaku heaved an annoyed sigh and promptly peeled his shirt off. His body was streaked with fever-induced sweat making it hard for the shirt to come off, especially in his weakened state. He struggled with it a bit, finally pulling it up and over his head, letting out a rather loud, relieved cry as it finally came off his head, allowing him to breathe clearly again.

"Wh-what are you d-doing?!" Jyabura cried, his face going beet red in an instant at the uncaring display. Kaku whirled around, jumping and yelping, clearly caught off guard. He blinked confusedly for a second before-

"Oh… Heh. I forgot you were there… S-sorry…" Kaku blushed and ducked his head, clearly embarrassed. He quickly turned back around and buried himself in the blankets and within seconds began to snore softly. The shivering and blanket throwing commenced summarily. Jyabura sighed and watched Kaku again. In five minutes Jyabura had to replace the blanket several times and was getting fed up.

Kaku woke up to see a half-naked Jyabura slide into bed with him. For a few seconds he just stared before he finally realized what was happening.

"J-Jyabura… What…?"

"Sh-shut up! You keep kicking off those damn covers so I'm just going to be in here and make sure you keep warm, is all! J-just go back to sleep!" Jyabura muttered out, feeling glad for the dim lighting as it made it hard to see his face doing its best tomato impression. He positioned himself close to Kaku, turning the sick man over so they were back-to-chest. Jyabura wrapped an arm around him and settled down. There were a few moments of awkward silence, then-

"Kid, if you do not go to sleep right now, I will _put_ you to sleep."

"… Night, Jyabura." Kaku said after a second. Jyabura only muttered in response, shifted Kaku so they were both more comfortable, and promptly drifted off to sleep. Feeling too tired to think anymore, Kaku followed his example.


	2. Chapter 2

Summary: A sickness traveling around Enies Lobby infects most of CP9. Jyabura is left to take care of Kaku. (JyaKaku)

I do not own One Piece. D:

* * *

Kaku woke up late the next morning and groaned as the sun hit his eyes. He felt much better than the day before. The nausea had passed, but his throat was still sore, along with the rest of his body, and his limbs felt like lead. Kaku let out another groan and got out of bed, testing the cool floor for a second before dragging himself to the bathroom.

Jyabura woke to Kaku's shuffling and grumbled, not used to being woken up by something else. He growled and shifted before coming fully awake.

"Jeez, kid, can you get any louder?" He sat up violently and let out a pained grumble. His head was just pounding, and the sudden movement hadn't helped. Kaku peeked out at him, toothbrush sticking out of his mouth with a brush running through his hair, a confused expression on his face. Jyabura stared for a moment, not making a single movement, though his cheeks were tinged pink. "Gah, whatever. Nevermind. I'll just go to my own room and get ready…" He got dressed, missing Kaku's lingering stare, and hobbled out the door.

Jyabura was so busy dwelling on that image of Kaku that he didn't see Lucci walking towards the door. They fell in a rather ungainly heap, Jyabura spluttering indignantly while Lucci simply glared with enough force and sheer killing intent to take out a battalion of battle-hardened warriors.

"Goddammit Lucci! Watch where you're going!" Jyabura yelled, trying to get up.

"Get. Off. Me." Jyabura was already leaping off of him by the time Lucci had finished wrenching out those words with about as much patience and good-feeling as someone wrenching off their own fingernails.

Jyabura growled and glared. Lucci looked from him to Kaku's door and back, quickly putting things together in his mind, albeit incorrectly.

"Really Jyabura? This is somewhat unexpected. Grave-robbing perhaps a little less so, but cradle-robbing? Isn't the boy a bit young for you?" Jyabura growled, but his headache prevented any real comeback from coming to mind. Instead, what came out was more of a half-assed cop out.

"Stupid pussycat," and with that Jyabura turned heel and left.

* * *

Jyabura's head was still bothering him as he made his way to the kitchens. He'd gone to his standard issue room and gotten cleaned up and dressed in new clothes, washing his face and everything, but he still felt off. He had decided some food might help him, but the closer he got to the kitchens, the more he doubted it.

The rest of CP9 were all gathered there, save Spandam who ate in an executive mess hall somewhere else. Jyabura sat down, feeling queasier by the second. He mostly looked at the table, except once to glare at Lucci as he came in, and only answered people's inquiries in low grunts. It wasn't until Kalifa brought out her breakfast that Jyabura _knew_ this wasn't a good idea. His face paled and his hand clamped over his mouth. The action nearly knocked over his green tea which was quickly saved by his free hand and relocated farther away. Lucci merely looked up and smirked maliciously.

"What's the matter, mutt? Feeling sick? Why don't you go into your training room and chew grass like the rest of your dumb species?" Lucci said, feeling particularly vicious since their collision earlier that morning. Jyabura sent a look that would have curdled milk towards the smug looking man.

"At least I head outside and don't puke all over the carpet like a retard, monster-cat." Lucci's eyes narrowed and he set down his cup. He was about to get up when Kaku came in, hands up and face worried.

"Hey, hey! Calm down, please! Jyabura if you are feeling ill then don't work yourself up." Jyabura turned to look at the still pale face of the younger man. That sight, combined with his nausea, convinced him to leave without a brawl. As he turned to go, he 'accidently' hits the table hard enough to send Lucci's coffee spilling all over his crotch. The other man gave out a horrific mix between a growl and scream of pain.

"Oh, sorry about that. Better go and rest up." Jyabura said, and with that he walked away. Kaku sighed and followed him out, hurrying out of the room before Lucci could finish transforming. He caught up with Jyabura and walked with him, fixing him with a steady glare.

"…. What?"


	3. Chapter 3

Summary: A sickness traveling around Enies Lobby infects most of CP9. Jyabura is left to take care of Kaku. (JyaKaku)

I do not own One Piece. D:

Final installment! :D This is rather short, sorry. ^^; Thanks for reading! 3

* * *

Jyabura groaned as he lay down in his bed. His body felt too sore for his garden room ground, soft as the grass was. He'd been steadily feeling worse and worse all day. He'd tried to train earlier, only to find that he kept getting dizzy, and instead settled for a couple of stretches. Finally Kaku convinced him to skip out on that afternoon's meeting and return to his room. He sighed and lay there, occasionally coughing and sipping from the water he'd brought. Fifteen minutes later there was a timid knock at his door. Kaku came in, looking a little peeved and a little concerned.

"What're you doing here kid?"

"I thought I'd come in to check on you…"

"I'm not as sick as you were, so I think I'll be fine." Jyabura said, shrugging.

"I was also coming to tell you that _somehow_ Lucci got sick as well and ended up throwing up on the meeting room carpet." Jyabura guffawed.

"HA! What did I say! Stupid cat!" He laughed loudly for all of 20 seconds before his coughing started up again full-force. Kaku gave an aggravated sigh and walked over to him.

"Settle down. You'll only weaken yourself further." Indeed, Jyabura did look rather tired. Kaku looked a little worn himself, but at least he was on the mend. Jyabura sighed and resettled himself, a small satisfied grin plastered to his face.

Kaku pulled up a chair and sat beside the bed. He crossed his legs and rested his head on his hands, looking worried and a bit more than a little guilty.

"… Are you feeling OK?"

"Meh, a little cold, throat's sore. You don't have to worry about me so much."

"… Well, it is kind of my fault you got sick…" Kaku said. Jyabura scoffed at the ceiling.

"Damn right it is! I mean, If you hadn't-" Jyabura nearly bit his own tongue shutting his mouth so quickly as soon when he saw the pained expression on Kaku's face. "Hey, I'm sorry kid. I didn't mean it like that… I'll be fine, don't worry." He gave the younger man a goofy sort of grin, then sneezed violently. Kaku smiled, immediately feeling better.

"Yeah… so it turns out that this has been going around all of CP9 for awhile. You and Lucci are the last one's to get it." Jyabura grunted, having guessed as much. Now that strange look Kalifa had given him the day before when he'd gotten their water bottles made a lot of sense…

"Figures." There was a moment of silence, interrupted occasionally by the sound of sheets rustling. Looking down, Jyabura realized with horror that he was shivering. Not wanting to appear weak, he simply pulled the blankets over him tighter to cover it up, though in reality it did the exact opposite. The bed suddenly dipped somewhere behind him and Jyabura turned to see Kaku, hat and shirt off, climbing in beside him.

"Get out of here kid. We don't need you catchin' this again." Jyabura muttered. Kaku turned and smiled up at him.

"I'll be OK… I've already had it once, so I've built up immunity." Kaku said just as softly, snuggling into the pillow. There was a moment of silence.

"… A what?"

"Just go to sleep!" Kaku said, laughing. Jyabura knew he should've felt embarrassed, but at the sound of that laugh he could only feel kind of pleased, a strange sort of happiness. He turned to face the ceiling and sighed, prepared to fall asleep, only to be hit by a wave of nausea. Again, his hand flew towards his mouth to stave off the feeling. Kaku, alarmed, shot up in bed. He figured out what was going on without Jyabura's saying it. Kaku slowly brought his hand up to the other man's toned stomach and, blushing madly, he began to stroke it in what he hoped was a soothing manner. Jyabura looked at him confusedly, even more so when the nausea dissipated and he relaxed. After a moment of this, both were started to doze off. Suddenly, Kaku shifted, sidling up closer to the other man until half of him was on Jyabura's chest. He dropped his head down slowly until his mouth was level with the other man's ear.

"I never did get to thank you for staying with me the other night…" He whispered… and with that he lifted his head and kissed Jyabura softly. It was slow and sweet, and probably the most memorable thank-you Jyabura had ever experienced in his life.


End file.
